Once in a while there is something that a woman must fight for; Widowed at age twenty-one when her husband was killed aboard a whaler, plain but witty Eleanor Rayburn, determined to hire a new crew and carry on her late husband's work, is dismayed to learn that he has sold his shares in the ship. In her search for the company that now possesses it, she encounters the handsome, arrogant owner, a man with a flagrant dragon tattooed on his torso, who not only greets her coldly, but who obviously feels women are not endowed with enough brains to be equals in a man's world.

And a man must win; Dante Templeton, a marine naturalist, charms women easily but cares for none. Abandoned as an infant, he was raised in an orphanage and went to sea at an early age, only to be regularly beaten by the ship's cruel captain, whom he also blamed for his brother's death. When his enemy's widow comes looking for a loan, he impedes her at every turn, determined that her ship will never hunt whales again.

Circumstances throw Eleanor and Dante together. The handsome, tattooed naturalist and the seemingly plain, intelligent widow cannot deny their fiery attraction. Although Dante knows a secret about Eleanor's late husband that would certainly hurt her, he now realizes that to destroy this vibrant, passionate woman would mean destroying himself.